Reflections on the contemporary church, culture, Christian philosophy and doctrine.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Christian Theology, History, and Science

An area of significant debate in our culture right now is
the relationship between the Christian faith and the scientific endeavor.It is largely assumed in most non-Christian
circles, and more and more within them, that the Christian faith is largely
hostile to science.It is said that
science is a matter of knowledge and Christianity is a matter of faith, placing
science on the higher pedestal.And
then, often, stories are trotted out to make the case that the Christian faith
has historically been anti-science in one fashion or another.But does this point of view do justice to
both Christian history and theology?I
will deal with some of the basics - many of which will surprise readers - and
leave the gory details to those who write book-length treatments of such
things.

Christian Theology Has Been a Science Starter

One bumper sticker used in this debate is that
Christianity is a "science stopper," basically meaning that the act
of putting faith in God excludes someone from the act of engaging in
science.This view simply does not
account for key components of Christian theology or the progress of science
within the Christian church.Christian
theology was the fertile soil in which the scientific revolution took
place.Of course there are plenty of
historical figures in science who were not Christian, but the foundation was
built by Christian theology.As the
sociologist, Rodney Stark, puts it, "In contrast with the dominant
religious and philosophical doctrines in the non-Christian world, Christians
developed science because they believed
it could be done, and should be done."[i]

The celebrated philosopher Sir Alfred North Whitehead
argued that Christianity was the mother of science because of the medieval
insistence on the rationality of God.[ii]The fundamental idea was that God the Creator
is rational, so his creation is able to be studied with reliability and order
can be discovered.Others, like the
scholar M.B. Foster, attribute this idea to the uniqueness of the Christian
doctrine of creation.Unlike mythologies
that have the universe beginning in chaos or struggle between gods, the
Christian doctrine is one of simple creation by a law-giving God.

History Followed Theology

As a result, the history of science, especially early on,
is littered with people driven into scientific discovery exactly because they
believed they were able to and God wanted them to.Instead of believing they were getting rid of
the "God hypothesis," they believed they were honoring God with their
intellects and abilities and would see him more clearly the more they learned.

Over 70% of the Royal Society of London, a society
established in 1660 to promote the cause of science, was Puritans when it
began.Puritans were far less than 70%
of the population of England at the time.It was they who were the pioneers of the methodology of observation and
inquiry.Francis Bacon, seen by some as
the "major prophet of the Scientific Revolution," once wrote,
"There are two books laid before us to study, to prevent our falling into
error: first, the volume of the Scriptures, and then the volume of the Creatures."[iii]

Copernicus wrote that the universe was "wrought for
us by a supremely good and orderly Creator."[iv]Galileo, whose story as it is popularly
understood is largely oversimplified, was a devoted Christian even while he was
put under pressure by forces within the church.He was convinced that God was "a Divine Craftsman or Architect Who
created the world as an intricate mechanism"[v]
and could be studied to the glory of God.

Johannes Kepler was not shy about his investigations into
astronomy and his God.He wrote,
"My wish is that I may perceive that God whom I find everywhere in the
external world in like manner within me."[vi]

But it is not to be conceived that mere mechanical causes
could give birth to so many regular motions: since the Comets range over all
parts of the heavens, in very eccentric orbits. For by that kind of motion they
pass easily through the orbs of the Planets, and with great rapidity; and in
their aphelions, where they move the slowest, and are detain'd the longest,
they recede to the greatest distances from each other, and thence suffer the
least disturbance from their mutual attractions. This most beautiful System of
the Sun, Planets, and Comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion
of an intelligent and powerful being. And if the fixed Stars are the centers of
other like systems, these being form'd by the like wise counsel, must be all
subject to the dominion of One; especially since the light of the fixed Stars
is of the same nature with the light of the Sun, and from every system light
passes into all the other systems.

These examples only scratch the surface of the pioneers
of science who discovered science-forming and science-creating realities and
simultaneously sought God with an open heart and open mind.But these examples may suffice to make the
simple point: there is no inherent conflict between believing in the God of the
Christian faith and pursuing science in all its viable forms.